Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Love Knows No Bounds




At 7:30 yesterday morning we joined another school for morning devotions.  Our team was welcomed and we took part in worshipping our Heavenly Father.   Again we noticed how the children worship with complete abandon as they sing their praises to God.  One of the team members commented that he was so amazed at how these children worship and thank God with their whole hearts even though they have very little as far as materialistic things.  They love God and are so grateful for His salvation and power in their lives. They are so thankful. 

We then began our home visits and each team member that has a sponsor child was able to go to the child’s home to visit, pray with them and leave a gift. Other team members came to the homes and enjoyed watching the visit between the sponsor and their sponsor child.   Some of the children were picked up from school and rode in the vans with us to their homes.  In so many cases, the living conditions that these children and their families live in is incomprehensible.   Many of the homes are hammered together with wood pieces leaving large gaps in the walls.  The floors are dirt and animals such as dogs and chickens walk freely through the homes.  Often the beds don’t have mattresses, but are just pieces of wood or cardboard lying across a wooden frame and sometimes an entire family of six or more people will share one small bed. One small home that we visited has nineteen people living it. These living conditions brought about many emotions within our team and at times it was overwhelming.  The children and families were so excited to have their sponsor visit them as this was evident in their faces and beautiful smiles.  Students with a sponsor child have expressed many times how much they love their child that they have only just met.  It is a powerful thing to witness these relationships growing and the connections that are being made. God is definitely at work in everyone’s hearts.

After the home visits we went back to Vida Nueva to do our second VBS.  Our team was greeted by many of the kids as we walked onto the grounds.  The team taught the children about our God being big.  After the Bible lesson we had the opportunity to play games and activities with the kids.  There were about 120 kids choosing activities like water balloon races, parachute, bubble blowing, face painting, tag games and soccer.  It was an amazing and rewarding time as team members bonded and formed incredible relationships with the children in the village.  We formed a line as we were leaving and all of the children walked through and gave us each a hug.  There were so many big hugs, tickles and laughter as they came through the line.  We loaded into the vans and it was very difficult to leave. We have only one more day with the children at Vida Nueva and it will be a very tough good bye today.

Back at the guest house Les had another debrief session with us and it is very evident that God is doing a huge work in many of the lives of the team.  Students expressed the love that they feel for these children and for the people of Guatemala.  Even though there is a language barrier we know that love has no bounds.  We are so thankful for every opportunity we have to spend time with these children and for the doors that God is opening.  It was an incredible, unforgettable day!
Thank you so much for your prayers! We know that you are back home praying for us and we appreciate it so much.  Please continue to pray for health and strength for the team.  Cristo Vive!!!  (Jesus Lives!!!)

We will try again tonight to post a few pictures. 

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